Breakthrough: Edhi intervenes to end KESC workers’ hunger strike

Workers say HR committee hasn’t contacted them, KESC says meeting on Monday.

KARACHI:

After 21 days of sitting outside the press club in the scorching sun, some of the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) workers finally ended their hunger strike on Thursday.

The breakthrough came courtesy social worker Abdul Sattar Edhi who visited the workers at their camp and requested them to protest in some other way. “The government is not taking an interest in your issues and I cannot solve your problems, but I would appeal to you to end your hunger strike as the weather is very hot and the strike will only create physical problems for you,” he said.

His words made a difference and the resilient workers decided to end their hunger strike. They will, however, continue their sit-in until their demands are met. Edhi suggested the workers offer thanksgiving feasts as well.

At a news conference on Thursday, KESC labour union’s general secretary Haji Shahzad said that they have yet to be contacted by the newly formed human resource committee that the company’s CEO announced would settle the issue. “We have not received any letter or documents from the management about the committee. We only learned about it through the media.” The workers are ready to negotiate with the management, “even on a 30-minute notice”, he added.

Contrary to these claims, however, a statement was issued by KESC, saying that the five-member HR committee would sit down with the collective bargaining agent (CBA) at 4 pm on Monday, May 23, at the State Life Building.

KESC CEO Tabish Gauhar also invited the certified and law-abiding labour leaders to “sit down with the HR committee to find a solution that is based on ground realities and works in the interest of KESC, as well as the citizens of Karachi.”

Responding to allegations that the workers have given jobs to their relatives, Shahzad said that, “the recruitments were made according to the labour laws of the country”. He insisted that the workers were not responsible for frequent load-shedding in the city. “The KESC management has recruited unskilled people who don’t know how to handle technical faults.” He also accused the company of not paying PSO and failing to use furnace oil for electricity production.

Talking about the salaries of the workers, Shahzad said that the management’s claims were false. He rejected the claim that simple labourers were paid Rs70,000 and said that the management should check the pay slips again as they also includes welfare loans.

“It is not a crime if some of the workers are drawing salaries of around Rs40,000 in the time of an extreme price hike, after 36 years of service, while the management officers are drawing salaries in the millions,” said the general secretary.

with additional input from ppi

Published in The Express Tribune, May 20^th, 2011.